How to determine that a keyword is inactive (v13 reports)

[j.e.frank]

At some point in the last couple years, Google phased out the notion of the "inactive" status for a keyword.  Now, every keyword is technically "active", although it may have too low a bid or too low a quality score to realistically trigger impressions.  We're trying to monitor our keywords to know how many of them are effectively active, so I am trying to figure out how to achieve this with the AdWords API.  One caveat is that we are stuck on v13 for reporting because we need to run cross-client reports.

In the AdWords UI on the Keywords tab, the Status column typically says "Enabled", "Below first page bid", "Low search volume" and "Low quality score".  In my understanding, all except Enabled indicate that the keyword is not triggering ads, and thus is effectively inactive.  In v13 reports, all the keywords (unless paused or deleted) come back with the status as Active.

Is there any way to determine that a keyword is effectively inactive with v13 reporting?  One idea is to compare the keyword's bid with the first page bid, as a proxy for the "below first page bid" status.  Is that a sensible idea?  Is there a cutoff quality score that could approximate the "low quality score" status?  And how could I approximate the status of "low search volume"?

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi,

I'm not aware of a reliable method of calculating this status
information using the fields available in v13 reports. A good
indicator of an inactive keyword though is one that hasn't received
any impressions lately. Have you considered using this metric to
infer inactivity?

Best,
- Eric Koleda, AdWords API Team

[Zweitze]

When predicting whether a keyword will trigger one of your ads, you
should also evaluate the group status and campaign status, when these
are not active and enabled, your keyword is not shown.
But, your task is almost impossible. For instance, a keyword will not
be shown when the campagin runs out of its daily budget. So you should
also look at the total costs of the day in the campaign. Unfortunately
it is not a strict limit, Google allows to overrun the daily budget by
10%, as long as the total cost of the month does not exceed the daily
budget times the days in the month. Further, your account may be
deactivated by Google (eg. because of payment problems), and you
cannot determine the account status through API.

BTW: You mention the first page bid. That has nothing to do with the
state of a keyword. It just tells you whether your ad will be shown on
the first page, or on a later page. If you want to ensure that your ad
is shown on the first page, you should either contact all competitors
of that word, or you should enter a bidding war.

[j.e.frank]

You are right about what the first page bid tells you, but I disagree that this is "nothing to do with the state of a keyword".  I'm interested in knowing when a keyword is languishing, and the first page gets by far the majority of impressions.  I'm not necessarily trying to ensure that the keyword is shown on the first page, but I am interested in knowing when it is not, so that I can make a smart decision about whether to raise the bid.

[j.e.frank]

Your reply makes me think that it might be possible with the later ReportDefinitionService, since you mentioned that you don't think it is possible with v13.  I did some investigation into v201008, and I still don't see any way to get the "effective status" through a report.  If you think there is a way using reports in 201008, please let me know what it might be.

As for using 0 recent impressions as a way to identify inactive keywords, that is not a bad idea.  There are lots of reasons why a keyword could be getting 0 impressions, and I was hoping to identify the reason in addition to simply identifying the fact of inactivity, but at least it is a start.

[SBond]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if this is available yet?  Would love to have the ability to get the following keyword statuses through the API:

Low Quality Score

Low Search Volume

Below First Page Bid

Any updates would be greatly appreciated :)

[SBond]

Hi all,

Does anyone know if this has been updated at all?  I would love to get this data through the API if possible:

[Ray Tsang (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

Let's continue this discussion on the other thread that you've commented on. 

Thanks!

Ray

[Ray Tsang (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

The closet API that I know off that may be useful is QualtiyInfo.

Cheers,

Ray

On Thursday, February 27, 2014 3:56:48 PM UTC-5, SBond wrote: